first life drawing in over 3 years

I finally went life drawing, after a hiatus of more than 3 years. I was completely out of practice, and my drawings were not good. It'll take a couple of months of going life drawing at least once a week to get back into it. I thought it would be interesting to post some of the decent pieces, after each weekly session, and see if there is a noticeable improvement over the next few months.

SOLDIER SKETCH

Here's a couple of versions of a sketch. The first is the scan from my sketchbook, the second is with the flag added digitally. The spatter was done by hand, by tapping a brush with paint against a ruler. I had to do that part in my bathroom. I tried to be careful, but I still got red paint spatter all over my bathroom. It looked like a horror scene. But I cleaned it up before it dried, so my bathroom is nice and clean again.